Superfoods friend Lucinda asked the Organic and Local Food clients to send in a personal food story for Thanksgiving. We're in the midst of packing and prepping for travel, so my mind isn't working in full, narrative form, but I do have some really wonderful memories of family, food and all that makes gatherings wonderful and dear...
My family is Filipino, and never in all our years of celebrating the holidays with our culture's food did I wish for something other than what was available through family recipes. And what a community affair! There was a dining room table, but never enough room to seat everyone. The celebration of food took place upstairs, in the basement (near the early '88 karaoke machine), on the front porch, in the sunroom...the whole house filled with celeberatory energy.
Yes, the host/hostess of the gathering often supplied the dishes and main entree, but everyone always brought something--it was expected that Tita Tessie's Ginataang would make an appearance, as well as Tito Joey's special, no fat skimmed pancit. We had Lechón, Chicken Afritada, Atsara, Menudo, Cassava Cake, Biku, Ensaymada, Sinigang, Turrón, Bibingka...just to name a few. Someone, as a joke, would manage a can of cranberry sauce, which would sit on some unnoticed plate, quivering fearfully. In my mind, I would think, "Fear not, red, gelatinous goo, no one wants a taste of you!" Not when so much other Foodly Goodness could be had!While we keep our cultural food as a strong base to any gathering, the effects of diaspora are inevitable, and many other dishes did creep in and make their home on our community table. Bohemian Horns from my mom's friend, Adele (a nod to Granite City's large Eastern European population), Green Bean and Corn Casserole (one of the few foods made from canned vegetables that I would, dare I say, have seconds of?), that spinach salad with dried cranberries that initially attracted us That One Year We Dieted, all of Tita Debbie's different pasta experiments. (And somewhere in there, Black Forest Cake? Who made that? Why don't we see it anymore??)
Over the years, this community of Family began to include not only new food from other cultures, but new people bringing their own traditions, integrating into our lives, love--our very DNA (Nathan, Alina and Baby B!). For me, living on the other side of the state, the holiday celebrations vary from year to year. Different food, different locations, different people, a different order of animal (as I try to finish typing this with a kitty on my lap). I am so thankful for the foundation of food celebration instilled in me from childhood--I take it with me wherever I go, and have it with me with whomever we celebrate.
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